Southern Belly: Food Lover's Companion to The South

John T. Edge, writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, talks about his new book: Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover's Companion to the South. The book features Atlanta institutions such as Mary Mac's Tea Room, The Varsity and Sweet Auburn Curb Market.

John T. Edge is a contributing editor at Gourmet. He writes a monthly column, "United Tastes", for the New York Times. His work for Saveur and other magazines has been featured in six editions of the Best Food Writing compilation. He has been nominated for four James Beard Foundation Awards, including the M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. In 2009, he was inducted into Beard's Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America.

Edge holds a master's degree in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. Edge is director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, where he documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South. The SFA has completed more than 300 oral histories and 20 films, focusing on the likes of fried chicken cooks, row crop farmers, oystermen, and bartenders. Edge has served as culinary curator for the weekend edition of NPR.